


Son of the Sea

by darkling59



Series: Annals of the Incomplete [22]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Creature Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-17 23:18:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3547430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/darkling59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will's a sea monster!</p><p>(...who's not very good at avoiding nets.)</p><p>(Set pre-Curse of the Black Pearl)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Son of the Sea

A panicked yell rent the air, startling a musing Commodore Norrington out of his thoughts where he was standing on the bow of his ship. “What the devil…?”

“Hold it fast!”

“Got it!”

“What…?”

James took in the situation at a glance; three disheveled sailors were struggling with a large form trapped within their fishing net. No reason for him to interfere. Except…

There was something familiar about that yell…

“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?” All four figures froze at the cool command beneath the commodore’s tone.

“Lookit what we caught sir! It’s a mermaid!” One of the men looked up at him, face flushed and grinning.

“A…mermaid.”

The creature growled and thrashed, almost pulling the speaker off his feet. Only a particularly rough pull from one of the sailor’s mates kept sharp claws away from his eyes.

“I was unaware mermaids had claws, sailor.”

The man flushed, climbing to his feet and tugging brutally at his portion of the net, forcing its occupant to the deck with a pained grunt.

“That’s all it could be sir.” One of the others piped up “it sure ain’t human but it looks like one.”

“Well, let’s see it then.”

He boldly stepped forward, glancing down at the ensnared creature regardless of the sailors’ protests and shouts of warning. If he was right…

He was.

The creature was a boy, aged somewhere between fifteen and eighteen years with curly brown hair and expressive eyes of the same color. His skin was bronzed from the sun though obviously hadn’t always been. Frayed trousers hung from his thin frame, their threadbare appearance offset by a waterproof scabbard and halberd that had been strapped crosswise from right shoulder to left hip rather than around his waist. A rather odd looking broad belt (which appeared to have several pouches sown to the inside of the leather) evened out the look, going from left shoulder to right hip.

None of that strangeness held a candle to the fact that the brown eyes were, in fact, slit through the middle like a shark’s, the hands and feet were webbed and tipped with cruel looking claws, and there were three fluttering gills on each side of the boy’s neck. He had a greenish mottled texture dusting his hairline, neck, shoulders and outer arms which upon closer inspection proved to be some sort of scales and short fins protruding from his arms and legs. His ears were lined in the same sort of webbing as his hands and a short dorsal fin framed by bony ridges (the same color as his scales) trailed his backbone. When he opened his mouth to pant from exertion, sharpened fangs became visible.

The boy was utterly drenched and impossibly entangled in the sailors’ fishing nets. His hands were pinned far from his sword hilt and the sheer weight of the nets was forcing him into a prone position on the deck, unable to fight or escape.

Commodore Norrington had to exert extreme self control to keep himself from rolling his eyes. Honestly, could the boy even understand what ‘stay away’ meant?

“A mermaid? I was under the impression they were female.”

The sailors grumbled and flushed, put off by the fact that their superior officer didn’t seem in the least bit surprised or astonished by their prey.

“Also, I do not recall ordering the fishing tackle brought out. We are in the area to hunt for pirates, not disturb the sea life.”

“But sir…”

“No buts. Toss it back.”

“Toss it…but sir!”

“Did I stutter, sailor?”

“…No sir.”

“I did not think so.”

He did not bother to watch as his men threw the net over the side, shaking it out and dropping its occupant back into the depths with a loud splash.

After all, he has better things to do with his time.

But that damned Turner brat had better mention his generosity to Elizabeth.


End file.
